A variety of liquid dispensing apparatus are used throughout the world to dispense a wide variety of liquids including water, coffee, tea, soda, medicines, and numerous other liquids. Some of these apparatus dispense liquids directly from liquid storage containers directly to the end user with no mixing or alteration to the liquid, it is dispensed as it exists within the container offering the user no interaction with the liquid during the dispensing process. The user has no ability to modify the liquid between the process of selecting the liquid and the act of the liquid being dispensed.
Many apparatus combine more than one liquid from more than one liquid storage container during the process of dispensing the final liquid mixture to the end user, such as a soda dispensing machine that combines carbonated water with a flavorant or syrup. As with previous apparatus, these apparatus do not allow an end user to interact with or otherwise manipulate the proportions of the various liquids being dispensed.
Other apparatus that do not allow for a user to manipulate the proportions of the various liquids being dispensed, such as a store employee, machine owner, or machine service vendor having the ability to adjust the proportions of the carbonated water and the flavorant or syrup, still do not allow the end user to have that ability in a manner that is unique to that end user.
Many coffee dispensing apparatus that allow a user to manually initiate the dispensing of additional liquids, such as creamer or flavoring, to their coffee, do so in a non-precise manner that does not allow for the input, selection, combining, or dispensing of exact proportions or ratios of various liquids.
Many apparatus allow a user to insert a pre-packaged container of dried coffee, and then initiate a process of dispensing through the method of percolating, filtering, or forcing variable amounts of hot water into and through the container of dried coffee and into a cup or mug. These apparatus do not allow the combining of variable amounts of multiple liquids into a single dispensed liquid.